finally..29-6 with Leupold came home

[oysterer]

I always wanted a nice Smith with a nice scope and finally. I found the gun unfired in the box in Wisconsin driving around and after the dreaded wait to get NJ permits (45 days...), I took her home. I got a 2007 Leupold 2.5 - 8 power unfired off armslist for a great deal (thanks Gary!!), glossy which they do not make any more. It's a super nice piece of glass. Treated the gun to a Ballistol and Renwax bath, got her a Wolff type 2 and 14 lbs trigger return spring and could not be happier. The action is great. Made up some 240 Nosler 0.429 over 5.1 gr bullseye. Range report coming tomorrow. This one has been unfired long enough.

Thanks 75Vette for enabling and yes, like yours this one has a forged smooth trigger too, a forged hammer and a MIM latch but no internal lock (a no go for me).

 

[armorer951]

Awesome....hope it shoots as good as it looks!

 

[75Vette]

Wow! Looking good! Great pics too. You're going to love shooting your new one. S&W got it right on the dash 6 variation.
I'll have to take mine to the range now!
I'm glad I could help!!

 

[oysterer]

Thanks, it will be fun figuring out how far it can reach.

 

[75Vette]

I'll be looking for that range report and a pile of brass. Reading your post prompted me to get mine out of the safe and to the range Saturday. My consistency with iron sights isn't the best so I tossed a Fast Fire III on and shot away. This gun is a pleasure to shoot and had pretty good results. My name ain't Elmer but not too shabby for an ol' tin knocker.

 

[RSBH44]

Thanks, it will be fun figuring out how far it can reach.

You aught to be able to reach right out there a piece without too much trouble at all. Especially with that Leupold on her at 8x

 

[RSBH44]

I'll be looking for that range report and a pile of brass. Reading your post prompted me to get mine out of the safe and to the range Saturday. My consistency with iron sights isn't the best so I tossed a Fast Fire III on and shot away. This gun is a pleasure to shoot and had pretty good results. My name ain't Elmer but not too shabby for an ol' tin knocker.

Nice shootin Tex

 

[Dieseltech56]

I want one of those scopes in the worst way. I missed a nice one on gunbroker last week and I've got my eye on a few others. A little too big for a revolver IMO but perfect for some long range contender work.

 

[357 shooter]

Treated the gun to a Ballistol and Renwax bath
Range report coming tomorrow. This one has been unfired long enough.

The finish on that 29 looks fantastic! Looking forward to the range report!

 

[oysterer]

long overdue range report 29-6 w Leupold

Hi

I took her out a few times already and it is so much fun. I set the power to 4 or 6x and rested the gun on a bag shooting at 25 yards. I am still working on what is a comfortable shooting position. haven't quite figured i out. My favorite part is that seeing the POA is absolutely taken care off. If I don't hit where I aim, it is clearly now only about my trigger control. Great practice and harder than I thought. One thing is most important: The grip and finger position are critically important and I am trying to accomplish that by adding a Hogue grip sleeve over the Hogue rubber grip and some sticky repair tape. I am going to go a bit thicker on the top of the backstop to make more room for my trigger finger.

I tried some of my pet loads that work on other guns.

The gun has precise throats at 0.4290.
I have 0.4290 x-treme copper plated round WC 200 gr. ok in my loads but not great. Best with 8gr. HS-6

Vintage nosler JSP 0.429 240 gr ok, box is gone and I will stick with 200 to 210 grains going forward
vintage sierra JHP 0.4295 210 gr best so far

I tried a few pet loads which work on other guns:
5.7 gr W231 not good
5.1 BE is not good enough with the 240 gr noshers
H13.9 gr. 2400: quite alright but less good than HS-6
HS-6 8 gr: Great but a bit of unburnt powder
Hs-6 9 gr: Great, maybe a bit less unburnt powder but could not be as accurate as 8 gr.

I switched from cci 300 primers to WLP and in HS-6 find a bit less unburnt powder. My goal on that is to end up with absolutely no unburnt powder.

Will also try 8.5 gr HS-6 with both primers next and retry 9 grains with both primers and lead bullets. I think also increasing the crimp may help with unburnt powder. I may also try to go 8 gr and the 240 gr bullet as I think a heavier bullet pushing back against the HS-6 may give better burn.

I will order 500 hard cast Dardas 200 gr WC 0.430 diameter next and hoping that will be softer on the gun and increase accuracy a bit more.

I tried shooting at 100 yards also where I got a 6-8'' group and ~ 12'' drop with sierras and HS-6.

In short: This is the most fun gun I own. Great practice tool for trigger control and scratches the itch when I want to go rifle shooting w/o the need to bring so much equipment. The goal now is to get accuracy, are position, grips and load development to the point of making one hole at 25 yards and a small group at 100. I am continuing down the path with HS-6 for now. Any further ideas or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading my lengthy report as there are still many questions to figure out.

Pictures:
Top: vintage Sierra 210 gr JHP 0.4295, 8 gr. HS-6, cci 300 primers, 25 yards.
bottom vintage Nosler 240 gr JHP 0.4295, 5.1 gr BE, cci 300 primers, 25 yards.

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

.... The grip and finger position are critically important and I am trying to accomplish that by adding a Hogue grip sleeve over the Hogue rubber grip and some sticky repair tape....... .

Maybe you would benifit from a pair of those super sized Hogue gripe they use on some X-frames. A lot of guys have been using them on hard kickers on other frames with great success. I think the grips can be bought from S&W.

 

[Dieseltech56]

The x frame grips don't fit the N frame. They only fit K, L and X

 

[75Vette]

The x frame grips don't fit the N frame. They only fit K, L and X

Dieseltech, the the X frame grips will fit the round butt N frame fine. (I just tried it to double check myself) And they'll look and feel better than the electrical tape and sleeve.

 

[DumpStick]

""Will also try 8.5 gr HS-6 with both primers next and retry 9 grains with both primers and lead bullets. I think also increasing the crimp may help with unburnt powder. I may also try to go 8 gr and the 240 gr bullet as I think a heavier bullet pushing back against the HS-6 may give better burn.""


One of my standard loads for range shooting is :
240gr LSWC, 10.5gr HS-6, LPP (not mag). I use a good roll crimp.
Gives me right at 1000fps from a 7.5" Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter.
Extreme Spread was 44 fps, Standard Deviation was 15 FPS
I can do 1" groups easily at 25 yds, rested.

Very easy shooting, and the pressure is high enough that there is no unburnt powder.

 

[oysterer]

Thanks...

Maybe you would benifit from a pair of those super sized Hogue gripe they use on some X-frames.

Just ordered a black set from SW...so those are the canary yellow grips my buddy Pizzabob is shooting on everything across the board...great suggestion and that was news to me.

 

[S&WsRsweet]

I always wanted a nice Smith with a nice scope and finally. I found the gun unfired in the box in Wisconsin driving around and after the dreaded wait to get NJ permits (45 days...), I took her home. I got a 2007 Leupold 2.5 - 8 power unfired off armslist for a great deal (thanks Gary!!), glossy which they do not make any more. It's a super nice piece of glass. Treated the gun to a Ballistol and Renwax bath, got her a Wolff type 2 and 14 lbs trigger return spring and could not be happier. The action is great. Made up some 240 Nosler 0.429 over 5.1 gr bullseye. Range report coming tomorrow. This one has been unfired long enough.

Thanks 75Vette for enabling and yes, like yours this one has a forged smooth trigger too, a forged hammer and a MIM latch but no internal lock (a no go for me).

Nice set up ,Leupold does make great glass and that is just a super nice set up mgood for you !

 

[S&WsRsweet]

I'll be looking for that range report and a pile of brass. Reading your post prompted me to get mine out of the safe and to the range Saturday. My consistency with iron sights isn't the best so I tossed a Fast Fire III on and shot away. This gun is a pleasure to shoot and had pretty good results. My name ain't Elmer but not too shabby for an ol' tin knocker.

Elmer would be proud of ya though

 

[357 shooter]

The goal now is to get accuracy, are position, grips and load development to the point of making one hole at 25 yards and a small group at 100.

Your one hole 25 yard group is probably not far off. You have an excellent scope for the longer distances too. At one time I had a Burris 2x-7x mounted on a 686 and it turned in some good groups.

My 629 Classic has fired "one hole" groups at 25 yards with 2X Leupold. And I've found the 629 is accurate with the entire range of bullet weights. I'll post a few targets I fired some years ago using Hornady 240XTP and Sierra 220.

Most of my best groups were shot using magnum powders like 296 , H110 and VV N110. I may try some 100 yards groups once I get around to loading up some 44 ammo.

Thanks for the range report!

 

[jaymoore]

Most of my most consistent long range accuracy loads leave scads of unburnt powder! Exceptions being the H110 powered ammo, which I don't shoot all that much.

Can't see where the unburnt granules hurt anything, as long as they don't get caught under the extractor star. And a muzzle down, double bump unloading sequence has been quite effective in preventing that sort of drama.

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

If you truly want a clean burn try Vihtavuori powders. Cleanest I've ever used.